By Laura Stabbert
ELDRED — After 36 years – which included 14 seasons of coaching – and countless different roles, from health teacher to superintendent to athletic director, Al Wojtaszek is retiring from the Eldred Central School District.
Wojtaszek went to Orange County Community College in Middletown and then to Southern Connecticut State University.
There he had a professor who said, “Wojtaszek, you need to work with kids.”
It was only after his first year of teaching at BOCES and going to Jeffersonville to teach health in the morning and to Eldred to teach physical education in the afternoon that he realized, “This is for me.
“I haven’t regretted my career choice a day in my life,” he said.
Wojtaszek has taught, refereed, administrated and coached everything from junior varsity boys’ basketball to varsity girls’ soccer – and a lot of sports in between.
“This is a beautiful community,” Wojtaszek said of Eldred. “And it is a revolving door. I have women that played soccer for me coming back as moms to watch their daughters play, and I am just as proud of them for being great mothers as I was when we were winning championships.”
Though some may be worried the Eldred Central School District won’t be the same without one of its seasoned veteran educators, Wojtaszek confidently proclaimed, “Life will go on successfully, we have a great staff.”
He explained how he loves all students from kindergarten to 12th grade and makes it a point to get to know students of all ages.
It is clear that Al Wojtaszek found the perfect niche and will be missed immensely at Eldred.
When asked if he had a good run, Wojtaszek replied, “No, I’ve had a great run.”